James Gallagher Predicts a Finish of Mike Cutting at Bellator 158

At an age when most kids are more interested in television or their phones or tablets, featherweight prospect James Gallagher was either in the gym or taking fights against opponents many years his senior.

In just his second fight, a 13-year-old Gallagher was squaring off against a 21-year-old opponent, and a couple years later he would relocate to Dublin, Ireland, where he would take some time off to develop his skills before re-entering the amateur ranks.

“My coach, John Kavanagh, and he stopped me fighting for two years, so I was just training in the gym, doing different martial arts competition,” Gallagher told MMAWeekly.com. “After two years when I was 17 years old, I started fighting MMA again. I had to prove myself to him that I was ready, when I was 18 years old I made my professional MMA debut.”

Gallagher explains that his decision to get into fighting came from watching those around him start to get into the less savory parts of life. So from there he was determined to make his own path a positive one.

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“People always say I missed out on my childhood or something, my early teens, but I don’t see it that way, because where I come from, if I wasn’t fighting I could have gone down a bad road or whatever,” said Gallagher.

“I see a lot of my friends and a lot of people my age now who are just taking drugs and not living a good live and going down a bad road. I could see that from early on, and I wanted to avoid that. So when everybody else was going out, I was in the gym.”

Gallagher (3-0) will step up to his biggest challenge as a pro when he makes his Bellator debut at the 02 Arena in London, England, against veteran Mike Cutting (7-4) in main card 145-pound bout on July 16.

“He’s not going to be able to deal with my pressure,” said Gallagher of Cutting. “I feel like I’ll go after him and put pressure on him, he’ll feel that pressure and will panic. I’ll be calm and will be able to see all of that and I will capitalize on that panic, and within a blink I’ll either catch his chin or else I’ll be on his back choking him out.

“I’ve dedicated my whole life to this. My family has dedicated their lives to helping me towards this. It’s no pressure because I’m just having fun and am putting everything I’ve got into something I love. I’ve just got to go in there and do my best, and I’ll come out the winner.”

Now that he’s on an international stage, Gallagher plans on wasting no time in going after the one thing he wants in Bellator.

“I’m here for the title, that’s my goal and I’m going straight for it,” he said. “I’m putting everything I’ve got into it and I’m not going to take one step back until the job is done.”

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